POWER OF MINDFULNESS OR BEING IN THE PRESENT

How do we carry ourselves in high-pressure moments when our behavior is put to the test in a life-changing situation? Are the forces within harnessed properly and we emerge with flying colors? Or we just fold up, lose our mind despite preparations and go away and on our way out, this idea that could have saved us from the tight situation suddenly appears, but it's too late.

Books by inspirational authors give methods and illustrate ideas that give you the confidence to achieve your goals and be in control of the situation instead of the situation taking control of you. 

Just like that? As easy as eating an apple pie? We also speak of bad habits here in the way Jack Canfield, the co-creator of "Chicken Soup for the Soul," perceive and get rid of them. So can we get rid of a habit overnight? Not all the time. It takes at least a hundred days to change a habit, he said.

Personal transformation takes time and discipline. And it is not a hit-and-run affair.

But let's go back to that precious present when we are supposed to be in our best elements, or, shall we say are our best selves. There is a book here, recently published, by Amy Cuddy, one of the best speakers of a forum of spreading ideas. 

The title of the book is "Presence," a well-researched presentation on the subject, which the blogger purchased at a Wal-mart store in Lake Elsinore at the discounted price of $19.58. In the jacket, Jane McGonigal, author of "Reality Is Broken,"says about the book, "Reading this book will forever change how you carry yourself, and in doing so, it will make you braver, bolder, and better able to show up for all of your life's greatest opportunities."

However, the quotation below is not from the "Presence" but from the book by Lama Surya Das entitled "Letting Go of the Person You Used To Be." The quotation is by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese spiritual teacher:

"Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you can not live the moment of your daily life deeply. That is why those who are not capable of being there in the present moment, they don't really live their lives--they live like dead people, like the French writer Camus used to say. That is why if you know the techniques of mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, you can bring your mind back to your body and you become truly alive at every moment and that can be described as the practice of resurrection. Resurrection can be at every moment for life to be possible."